Year: 2012

…and then there was “skank.”

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Georgetown University’s president, John J. DeGioia, repudiated Rush Limbaugh’s slut/prostitute/sex tape diatribe  today by not exactly endorsing Sandra Fluke’s message, but noting that her testimony had been respectful and sincere while condemning speech such as Limbaugh’s as “misogynistic, vitriolic, and a misrepresentation of the position of our student.” He did this in an email sent … Read more

You want the blue pill; we’ll pay for it. You want the red pill; Rush Limbaugh owns your sex life.

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In Limbaugh Land, consumption of these isdetermined not by time but by sluttiness. I’m a big believer– and try to be a big practioner– of giving people the benefit of the doubt in disagreements. Because it’s a nice thing to do, yes, but also because it’s way too easy to do things like assume the … Read more

On perspective– general versus specific

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I write a lot about very particular things that have happened, and then try to extrapolate a larger significance. This is satisfying to me, but I try to be aware that there is definitely a ratchet in people’s brains that rises and lowers according to the specificity of what they encounter, and if the ratchet … Read more

Two very bad ideas

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1. Inflicting an enormous judicial penalty on someone because what would otherwise be counted as harassment a) resulted in a suicide, and b) might have been based in bigotry: Dharun Ravi is on trial in New Jersey for spying on his college roommate. Although the Newark Star-Ledger says “Ravi is not charged in connection with … Read more

Defending the female fuck-up

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I really have no place writing this, considering that I have been anything but an avid consumer of new films and TV over, well, the past couple of years. But I really like Amanda Marcotte’s treatment of females in comedy productions engaging in behavior that reveals them to be petty, emotional, short-sighted, vindictive….you know, normal. … Read more

The wife. The boy.

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One of the stories I mentioned yesterday was Feministe’s take on a recent…err, presentation given by Virginia Delegate David Albo to his fellow members of the House on how a romantic evening with his wife Rita had been spoiled when the two of them came upon coverage on the Rachel Maddow show about Virginia’s Republican … Read more

Weekend web readin’

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From The Agitator, Puppycide  Money quote: A New Mexico woman called the state police to report that she had been the victim of an Internet scam. The police told her they couldn’t come right away. She asked them to call before showing up at her house. They didn’t.  Instead, an officer arrived while she wasn’t home, ignored … Read more

Shopping at Penney’s has not made me a lesbian

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Sure, this is anecdotal evidence, but take it for what it’s worth. I like to buy jeans at J.C. Penney. They have a decent variety of Levis, usually at a good price. Now, granted, I was never persuaded to shop for jeans there by a spokesperson of any kind. But I also have not seen … Read more

Tempest in a cookie box

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Because a seven year old transgender child tried to be involved in a Girl Scout troop in Colorado, a national campaign has been created to urge us to not to buy any cookies this year, and Girl Scouts themselves to not sell them. Yes, really: Three Girl Scout troops in Louisiana won’t be hawking Thin … Read more